SHARJAH, UAE- AI content creator and educator Cosmina Popa showed visitors how to build an original digital character from scratch during an interactive workshop at the Social Media Station at the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) 2026.
During ‘Bring Your Characters to Life with AI’, Popa invited the audience to help shape a character before demonstrating the process live, from developing the concept and generating a reference image to creating a 30-second video.
The result was a Chinese warrior princess inspired by audience suggestions, with participants helping decide details including her background, appearance and personality.
Popa stressed that effective AI-generated content depends on more than simply entering a prompt.
“You have to be the person behind it,” she said, comparing the process to “driving a robot”.
She explained that maintaining the same facial features and overall look across multiple videos is particularly important when creating a recurring character. A clear reference image, she said, can help preserve consistency even when the character’s clothes, hairstyle or surroundings change.
From jewellery sales to millions of views
Popa also shared how quickly AI content creation changed her own career. Born in Romania and based in London, she had been working as a jewellery sales consultant before discovering AI-generated historical content earlier this year.
After experimenting with videos of herself travelling through history, she developed a social-media character based on Queen Elizabeth I, combining historical information with contemporary-style presentation. Popa said the account’s first video attracted six million views within a week. Launched in October, the account had grown to almost half a million followers by the time of the workshop.
Her aim, she said, is to use the technology in ways that can also educate audiences.
“Everything my Queen Elizabeth character says is designed to teach people history,” Popa said, adding that other creators are now developing historical characters from their own countries in similar ways.
Adding the human touch
For Popa, one of the most important parts of the process remains distinctly human.
She said AI tools can help generate broad concepts and structured prompts, but creators still need to add humour, personality and small observations that make a character feel relatable.
“It’s very important to combine AI with human details,” she said. “Other than that, it’s just going to be like an emotionless video, and people are going to scroll past it.”
Popa also highlighted practical limitations, explaining that AI platforms may restrict the use of contemporary celebrities and copyrighted fictional characters, making original creations and historical figures more suitable starting points.
Organised by the Sharjah Book Authority, the 45th Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF 2026) runs from November 4 to 15 at Expo Centre Sharjah under the theme ‘Made of Stories’, with the Sultanate of Oman as Guest of Honour. The fair brings together 3,212 publishers and exhibitors from 126 countries, showcasing more than 1.7 million titles. Its programme features 1,500 cultural, creative and artistic events, with 106 guests from 25 countries.
